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Childhood Maltreatment Linked to Adulthood Economic Problems

Childhood maltreatment is known to affect both physical and
mental health in adulthood. According to a new study, the long-term
impacts of child maltreatment also include higher rates of unemployment,
poverty and use of social services.

Previous research has found that parents who were maltreated
as children are more likely to abuse and neglect their own children,
forming an intergenerational cycle of violence. Other studies
have found low socioeconomic status to be a risk factor for the
perpetration of child abuse and neglect. Dr. David Zielinski
of NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suspected
that, if childhood maltreatment affected socioeconomic well-being
later in life, it might help explain this cycle.

To explore the link, Zielinski evaluated data on childhood
maltreatment and adult socioeconomic well-being from the NIMH-funded
National Comorbidity Survey. The survey estimated the prevalence
of mental disorders using modern psychiatric standards in a representative
sample of the general U.S. population. Zielinski examined data
from over 5,000 participants. The results were published in the
October 2009 issue of the journal Child Abuse and Neglect.

Zielinski found that adults who had been physically abused,
sexually abused, or severely neglected as children were significantly
more likely to be unemployed, living below the poverty line and
using social services than people without a history of child
maltreatment. The risks rose further in those who had experienced
more than one type of maltreatment.

Adults who had been physically abused as children were 60%
more likely than non-victims to be living in poverty. Those who
had experienced 2 or more types of childhood maltreatment were
180% more likely to be living below the poverty line.

Childhood physical abuse increased the risk of unemployment
by 140%. A history of multiple types of maltreatment increased
the risk by 190%. In contrast, survivors of sexual abuse or severe
neglect didn't have greater unemployment rates than non-victims.

Maltreatment was also linked to lower rates of health care
coverage and greater use of social services such as Medicaid,
especially among adults who had experienced childhood sexual
abuse.

These results imply that child maltreatment carries significant
costs not only to the individual but also to society. The public
shares the burden in supporting social services related to child
maltreatment (such as child welfare services). In the long term,
it also pays for increased unemployment insurance, poverty-based
public assistance and publicly funded health insurance, such
as Medicaid. Other societal impacts include losses in employment
productivity and tax revenues.

"What we've been learning is that traumatic childhood
experiences have a profound impact that's measureable well into
adulthood," Zielinski says. "Approximately 1 million
children are officially identified as maltreatment victims each
year and we're only beginning to understand the long-term burden
this places on society."

Studies that follow maltreated children over time will be needed
to confirm these findings. Future research may also help scientists
better understand how childhood maltreatment affects socioeconomic
hardships and suggest strategies to target those mechanisms.
If child abuse and neglect contribute to low socioeconomic status
in adulthood, targeted assistance for victims, such as access
to job training and job counseling programs, may help break the
cycle of violence.